My husband is from Tennessee and then he moved to way out in the middle of nowhere Texas and then found himself offered a position in New Orleans. He is a football coach so you never know where you will wind up. Well this was BEFORE he met me and he has a story to tell from someone who had never been to New Orleans before and had no clue where to live. It wasn’t as if he took the job after interviewing and had time to look around before deciding he just moved right in to a place with a cowoker until he could get settled. Long story short, he moved uptown, got his truck stolen the first two weeks he was here, found a place in Old Metairie to rent that wasn’t on the best street and then met me and we moved in a great cottage in Old Metairie. Problem solved, met a local and then all is good.
So I’ll jump right to the point, which is where to live if yo are offered a job in the Greater New Orleans Area?
This city is like no other and for those of us that are from here, living anywhere else is just plain boring. I have moved away 5 times and come back 5 times. I now live 3 hours away in Alabama, but close enough that I make it a point to come in town to see family and friends once a month for a few days.
It is becoming now that you are either a Southshore or a Northshore person and this is where the dilema is starting to surface for many people. For those of you that are not from New Orleans area, the line of demarcation is Lake Ponchartrain. Before the influx in the 90’s to the Northshore, there really wasn’t much talk about it. Then post Katrina things got very interesting when people had no choice but to move over there because of flooding. The northshore now is nothing but people from the Southshore and the traffic can be quite interesting. I’m going to list for me all the pros and cons of both sides of the 24 mile bridge to paradise.
Southshore ( New Orleans, Metairie, etc.)
I personally am a southshore only person. I enjoy visiting north but not really much interested i living over there again. My mother moved over there just when I entered high school which was a mess. I split my time with my mom and dad and had to commute!!! I spent most of my time with my friends in New Orleans and made that commute but did not like it at all.
* New Orleans has it all, places to go, people to see, restaurants, music nightlife, communities where kids can ride their bikes to the grocery store, close to anything and everything you need, great catholic schools, family gatherings, touristy places, events, etc.
* the best neighborhoods in my personal opinion are Lakeview and Old Metairie. It’s not I don’t like uptown, but it just freaks me out because you never know what’s on the street beside and behind you and the neigborhood can vary significantly between streets. Uptown was my hood in high school and where everyone loves to go out with some of the best places, but always be careful and I didn’t like having to do that. Lakeview has it all including the horrible streets. People brace yourself if you are looking for property in Lakeview, the streets will probably never change you just need to accept it as part of the landscape. Old Metairie, just cute and quaint and the benefit to that is it’s Jefferson Parish and not Orleans!!!
the Northshore
* The bridge can be peaceful for some and a pain for others. It is a way to unwind, but if there is fog then you are stuck and it can be scary. It’s not that your social life dies off over there, it just is different. You find yourself no matter what always having to drive into the city and to me it just wasn’t worth it. But it is beautiful, there are plenty of places to buy property on the river, in the woods, clean and St. Tammany Parish (especially Mandveille) police, whew!!! You better watch out, they do not want you to speed or do anything wrong, so thankfully that helps deter a lot of the crime.
* you can go to public school over there so you save lots of money from having to pay private.
* there is a lot to do and a much more peaceful setting than in the city….. if you like that sort of thing:)
